Modular machine for spinning and doubling with elements for transmitting individually the spindles with conical or double conical continuous and individual folding system

ABSTRACT

Modular machine for spinning and doubling with individual transmission elementos for spindles with continuous, individual, conical or double conical folding system, comprising a frame formed by two metal cabinets connected to each other by means of a central body; the machine further comprises 
     a series of mobile elements; the spindles with their respective driving system, the ring rail on which the travellers turn around, the yarn guide, the feeding system and the control panel, said machine being capable of producing bobbins wound by the conical or double conical continuous, individual, winding system. Said machine can be used for spinning and doubling yarn, cord or similar product in a continuous endless process.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a modular machine for spinning anddoubling with individual transmission elements for spindles, with acontinuous and individual conical or double conical folding system, bymeans of conventional asynchronous alternative current motors controlledby frequency converters and programmed by a control or microprocessorunit.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The textile industry uses two types of continuous spinning and doubling,machines which, among other elements, are provided basically with someelements, called spindles, in a number ranging from five to severalhundred units in each machine. The spindles turn continuously at thesame speed, driven by only one electric motor by means of gear orpulleys assembly. Also, each spindle can be driven by an individualelectric motor, with all motors controlled by a frequency variation unitso that all spindles turn at a same speed.

Although these machines have a high efficiency, all of their spindlesturn at the same speed. Consequently, they all have to use the samethread type and are unable to combine different thread types in order toperform simultaneous short operations. Therefore, when it is necessaryto produce different spinning and doubling operations, it is necessaryto adapt the machine to the new process, causing an increase inproduction costs.

Furthermore, in spinning, doubling, textile spinning, spool rovingframe, spool doubling, and similar machines, the thread obtained isstored in spinning bobbins, while the process for doubling the finalproduct has suffered changes. The conventional process consist of the socalled “reel” doubling, where the product is wound around a cylindricalreel provided in its upper and lower sides, with rims to prevent thethread from separating from the cylinder. This process had severalinconveniences. For example, to carry out the unfolding of the thread inthe process, it was necessary to turn the reel to avoid the breakage ofthe thread due to the strain caused by the pulling of the bobbin.Another inconvenience is that the unfolding had to be performedperpendicularly to the turning axis, in order to avoid thread breakagedue to fouling in the bobbin upper rim.

A new reel type was later developed, which was known as “conventionalconical.” This reel type reduced the upper rim to a diameter slightlylarger than that of a central axis, so that the bobbin obtained had amixed shape, with a conical upper portion. With this new pattern,although some of the previous inconveniences of the previous “reel” typemodel were eliminated, some problems remained. For example, in order toidentify the bobbin pattern, it is necessary to match the cone anglewith the number of coats required to obtain the required configuration.It will also be necessary to repeat such process for each reel typeprovided in the spinning machine, in the case that thread of differenttypes and thicknesses are used, thus affecting the machine efficiency.Another inconvenience is that, when finishing a manufacturing cycle, themachine stops completely, and therefore all spindles stop turning evenif they have not completed their process. As a result, time is wasted.Additionally, it is not possible to have bobbins with the same patternwhen processing different products in the different spindles ofspinning, doubling, textile spinning, spool roving frame, spooldoubling, and similar machines.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

With the purpose to prevent all serious inconveniences indicated above,when it is necessary to spin or double small amounts of product and toavoid wasting time relating to machine preparation, an improved modularmachine for spinning and doubling with elements for spindles individualtransmission has been developed. The invention also relates to a newsystem for doubling threads and welts as a continuous and individualconical or double conical folding system with a correspondingprogramming and control unit.

The modular machine for spinning and doubling with elements for spindlesindividual transmission with a continuous and individual conical ordouble conical folding system is made of a frame which includes twometal cabinets, one on a left side and one on a right side. The framehas a vertical cubic shape, made preferably in steel plate. The exteriorof each cabinet has a pivoting access door. The central portion of theframe connects the two cabinets, fastened by bolts, is provided withcross bars made preferably of welded steel tubes, which act as a supportfor the different moving elements that will be described hereinafter.

The central portion of the frame contains within the space between bothcabinets and held by the crossing tubes, preferably between one andthirty spinning or folding spindles, each having its own driving means.The spindles turn vertical to the axis on which the different types ofspinning or folding reels will be mounted. The spindles are held by atwin roller system, of the ball bearing type. The upper bearing unit ispacked in connection with a synthetic rubber ring to absorb the radialvibrations, and the lower bearing unit is mounted on a swinging supportthat is allowed to be displaced radially.

The spindle bottom part has fastened to it a pulley arranged to receivea transmission flat belt, for connection to the output of an inductionelectrical motor mounted on a pair of crossing tubes placed in the backside of frame.

A ring rail, having a vertical up and down displacement, on which asliding piece rotates to create the twisting of the thread, is mountedcoaxially on the spindle head. Above this ring rail, there is a threadguide having a similar movement but with a different speed. The threadguide guides the different threads towards the sliding piece that comesfrom the hake box or feeding assembly.

The feeding assembly for each spindle comprises a pair of feedingrollers, an inlet thread roller and a pressure cylinder. The feedingrollers, made preferably of chromed carbon steel, are driven by means oftwo horizontal shafts, which are also driven, through a flat belttransmission system, by an alternate current motor. The current motor iscontrolled by a conventional frequency variator. The variator iscontrolled by a potentiometer. The entire feeding assembly is located inthe cabinet. The shafts are made of carbon steel and go through onecabinet to the other, and are supported by the cabinets. One shaft islocated vertically above the other, and the shafts are connected to eachother by means of a chain that makes them turn in the same direction.The pressure roller is located between the two feeding rollers andexerts a pressure on the thread in order to obtain a better draw. Thepressure roller is held by ball bearings. The pressure arm is alsofastened by bearings to another vertical shaft placed on top of thosesupported by the feeding rollers. The pressure arm is allowed to moveradially when actuated by a pneumatic piston as to exert more or lesspressure on threads moving through the pressure roller and feedingrollers. The pneumatic pistons acting on the pressure rollers of thefeeding system in each spindle are driven by the pressured air flowcoming from the air pressure piping system, with pressure regulated by apressure control valve located in the cabinet.

In the modular machine for spinning and doubling with elements forspindle individual transmission with conical or double conicalcontinuous and individual folding system, spindles are the main elementsthat are in continuous movement, and are able to turn at differentspeeds. The ring rail has a vertical up and down movement, with thesliding pieces and thread guides turning around and having, as in thecase of the ring rail, a vertical up and down movement.

Each spindle turns around its own shaft driven by an alternate currentinduction motor by means of a belt, preferably of the flat type withinterior teeth. Each motor is individually controlled by a frequencyvariator, of the conventional, vectorial or other type, which isprogrammed independently for each spindle by means of a potentiometerlocated in each spindle control panel, so that each spindle can turn ata different speed and have an opposite turning direction.

The ring rail can move vertically along two vertical guides, one in eachside cabinet. The guides are of cylindrical shape and are made of carbonsteel and fastened in the bottom to each cabinet forming the machineframe. The ring rail moves vertically up and down with a strokeequivalent to the spindle reel height, and can regulate the length ofthe stroke. The thread guides move above the ring rail, following asimilar motion pattern, along the guides.

The ring rail as well as the thread guides are driven by an alternatecurrent electric motor, provided with a speed variator of the manualregulation disc type. The variator transmits the turning movement to aspeed reduction unit by means of the flat teethed belt. The output ofthe reduction unit is a horizontal shaft driving two drums with adifferent diameter on which steel cables are wound which hold the threadguides and the ring rail. The vertical up and down displacement iscreated as a consequence of the reverse in the motor turning direction,by means of the control provided by limit switches mounted on the drums.The thread guides and the ring rail are driven by the same means and thesame motor with reduction unit, so that they all have the same frequencyof movement.

The feeding rollers are mounted on two horizontal cross shaftsvertically one on top of the other, and are driven through a flat belttransmission system by an alternate current motor controlled by aconventional frequency variator which, in turn, is controlled by apotentiometer. The turning movement is transmitted between both of themby means of a driving chain, so that both shafts turn in the samedirection.

The driving motor as well as the frequency variator and the controlpotentiometer are located in the cabinet. Finally, the swing arm of eachpressure roller is actuated by means of a pneumatic cylinder.

For a better understanding of the new continuous, individual conical ordouble conical folding system, first we will explain the process toobtain a conventional simple conical folding as it is used now. Aconventional reel, comprising a cylindrical central body with its bottomprovided with a disc having a diameter between two and five times thecentral body diameter to support the processed thread, will be insertedin spindles of a spinning and doubling machine. The upper part of thereel has another disc, with a diameter slightly larger than that of thecentral body. The processed thread is inserted in the central bodybottom part of the reel, driving the spinning and doubling machine sothat the reel turns, driven by the spindle. By means of the up and downdisplacement of the sliding piece, driven by the ring rail in which theprocessed thread is inserted, the thread will be wound or folded aroundthe reel in an upwards direction. As a result, once the reel centralbody is covered with a first coat, a second coat is folded in adownwards direction. This process is repeated successively to get adiameter slightly smaller than that of a reel bottom disc, in a mannersuch that each coat presents a height slightly smaller than the previouscoat. The result is a mixed pattern bobbin, in which approximately thelower two-thirds of the bobbin has a cylindrical shape and the upperone-third has a truncoconical shape resulting in folded material havingan improved stability.

With the new continuous, individual, conical or double conical foldingsystem, the process to obtain a bobbin is totally different from theconventional process. In the conventional process, the thread or welt isfolded in accordance with a bobbin simple pattern, with most of itslength being of cylindrical shape and truncoconical upper portion. Incontrast, with the new continuous, individual, conical or truncoconicalfolding system, the folding pattern corresponds to a bobbin made up ofmultiple concentric cylinders and truncocones, forming assemblies called“subcycles” Each of the subcycles comprises a smaller given number ofthread or welt coats, with respect to the conventional system, and eachsubcycle has a height slightly lower than that of a previous subcycle.When the assembly has a given number of subcycles, it is called a“repeated great cycle”.

With this improvement, the modular machine for spinning and doublingwith individual transmission elements for spindles is provided with acontrol unit comprising a microprocessor. The microprocessor enables themachine to program, on a display, the length required to be stored ineach reel, the reel length, the height (h) of the cone or truncocone,and by means of a display restricted to the user, the number ofsubcycles (m) and number of thread or welt coats in each subcycle (n) inaccordance with the features of the processed products. The differencein height between a coat and next coat (Ca) and the difference in heightbetween a subcycle and next subcycle (Cb), computed by means of themicroprocessor algorithm, establishes the corresponding parameters.

Also, the microprocessor provides the machine with the capability toprogram different bobbin shapes, such as single cone, double cone andcylinder. All of these patterns can be obtained under the same processof subcycles and coats as previously described.

With the improvement introduced with the new control unit, the spinningmachine, doubling machine, textile spinning, spool roving frame, spooldoubling machine, and similar machines, have the capacity to apply theabove described programs individually to each spindle of the machine.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the invention, a preferential embodimentof the improved modular spinning and doubling machine with individualtransmission elements for spindles is shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front view of the modular spinning and doubling machine withindividual transmission elements for spindles with a continuous,individual, conical or double conical folding system.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the modular spinning and doubling machine withindividual transmission elements for spindles with continuous,individual, conical or double conical folding system.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of an assembly according to the invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a spindles bearing system according to theinvention.

FIG. 5 shows front and plan views of a side of a cabinet according tothe invention.

FIG. 6 shows front and plan views of a side of a cabinet according tothe invention.

FIG. 7 is a front view of a cylindrical reel with two identical discs.

FIG. 8 is a front view of a reel folded in accordance with aconventional process.

FIG. 9 is a front schematic view of a continuous conical foldingprocess.

FIG. 10 is a front view of a bobbin which has been configured inaccordance with the continuous conical folding process.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The modular spinning and doubling machine with individual transmissionelements for spindles with continuous, individual, conical or doubleconical folding system is made of a frame composed by two metalcabinets, one at the left (2) and the other at the right (1) hand side.The frame has a vertical cubic shape, made preferably in steel plate.The exterior of each cabinet has a pivoting access door. The centralportion of the frame, connecting the two cabinets fastened by bolts, isprovided with cross bars made preferably of welded steel tubes whichsupport moving elements described hereinafter.

The central portion of the frame can contain, within the space betweenboth cabinets (1, 2) and held by the cross tubes (4), between one andthirty spinning or folding spindles (5), each having its own drivingmeans. The spindles (5) are turning vertical to the axis on which thedifferent types of spinning or folding reels will be mounted. Thespindles (5) are held by a twin roller system of the ball bearing type.The upper bearing unit (8) is packed in connection with a syntheticrubber ring (9) to absorb the radial vibrations, and the lower bearingunit (10) is mounted on a swinging support (11) that is allowed to bedisplaced radially.

The spindle bottom part is fastened to a pulley (12) that is arranged toreceive a transmission flat belt(13), for connection to the output of aninduction electrical motor (14) mounted on a pair of crossing tubesplaced in the back side of the frame.

A ring rail (15), having a vertical up and down displacement, on which asliding piece (16) rotates to create the twisting of the thread, ismounted coaxially on the spindle (5) head. Above this ring rail (15),there is a thread guide (17) having a similar movement but with adifferent speed. The said thread guide having the purpose of guiding thedifferent threads towards the sliding piece (15) coming from the hakebox or feeding assembly.

The feeding assembly for each spindle comprises a pair of feedingrollers (19), an inlet thread roller (18) and a pressure cylinder (21).The feeding rollers (19), are made preferably of chromed carbon steel,and are driven by means of two horizontal shafts (22), which are alsodriven, through a flat belt (23) transmission system by an alternatecurrent motor (24) controlled by a conventional frequency variator,controlled by the control unit or microprocessor (29). The shafts aremade of carbon steel and go through from one cabinet to the othersupported by the cabinets. One shaft is located vertically above theother. The shafts are connected to each other by means of a chain (25)that makes them turn in the same direction. The pressure roller (21) islocated between the two feeding rollers (19) and exerts a pressure onthe threads (26) in order to obtain a better draw. The pressure rolleris held by means of ball bearings. The pressure arm (20) is alsofastened by means of bearings to another horizontal shaft (27) placed ontop of those supported by the feeding rollers (19). The pressure arm(20) is allowed to move radially when actuated by a pneumatic piston(28) as to exert more or less pressure on threads moving through thepressure roller (21) and feeding rollers (19). The pneumatic pistons(26) acting on the pressure rollers (21) of the feeding system in eachspindle are driven by the pressured air flow coming from the airpressure piping system, with pressure regulated by a pressure controlvalve located in the left hand side cabinet.

In the modular machine for spinning and doubling with elements forspindle individual transmission with conical or double conicalcontinuous and individual folding system, spindles (5) are the mainelements that are in continuous movement, and are able to turn atdifferent speeds. The ring rail has a vertical up and down movement,with the sliding pieces (16) and thread guides (17) turning around andhaving, as in the case of the ring rail (15), a vertical up and downmovement, the feeding rollers (19), the pressure rollers (21) and theinlet thread rollers (18).

Each spindle (5) turns around its own shaft, driven by an alternatecurrent induction motor (14) by means of a belt (13), preferably of theflat type with interior teeth. Each motor (14) is individuallycontrolled by a frequency variator, preferably of the conventional,vectorial or other type, which is programmed independently for eachspindle (5) by means of the control unit or microprocessor (29) locatedin each spindle control panel, so that each spindle can turn at adifferent speed and have an opposite turning direction.

The ring rail (15) can displace vertically along two vertical guides(30), one in each side cabinet. The guides (30) are of cylindrical shapeand are made of carbon steel and fastened in the bottom to each cabinet(1, 2) forming the machine frame. The ring rail (15) moves vertically upand down with a stroke equivalent to the spindle reel height, so that itis possible to regulate the length of said stroke. The thread guides(17) move above the ring rail, following a similar motion pattern, alongthe guides.

The ring rail (15) as well as the thread guides (17) are driven by analternate current electric motor (31) provided with a speed variator(32) of the manual regulation disc type. The variator (32) transmits theturning movement to a speed reduction unit (34) by means of the flatteethed belt (35). The output of the reduction unit is a horizontalshaft (36) driving two drums (37) with different diameters, on whichsteel cables (38) are wound which hold the thread guides (17) and thering rail (15). The vertical up and down displacement is created as aconsequence of the reverse in the motor (31) turning direction by meansof the control provided by limit switches mounted on the drums. Thethread guides (17) and the ring rail (15) are driven by same means andthe same motor with reduction unit, so that they all have the samefrequency of movement.

The feeding rollers (19) are mounted on two horizontal cross shafts (27)vertically, one on top of the other, and are driven through a flat belttransmission system by an alternate current motor (24) controlled by aconventional frequency variator, controlled by a control unit or amicroprocessor (29). The turning movement is transmitted, between bothof them by means of a driving chain (25) so that both shafts turn in thesame direction.

For a better understanding of the new continuous, individual conical ordouble conical folding system, first we will explain the process toobtain a conventional simple conical folding as it is used now. Aconventional reel (7), comprising a cylindrical central body (53) withits bottom provided with disc having a diameter from between two andfive times of the central body diameter to support the processed thread,will be inserted in spindles (5) of spinning and doubling machine. Theupper part of the reel has another disc with a diameter slightly largerthan that of the central body (53). The processed thread is inserted inthe central body (53) bottom part of the reel (7), driving the spinningand doubling machine so that the reel (7) turns, driven by the spindle.By means of the up and down displacement of the sliding piece (16),driven by the ring rail (15) in which the processed thread is inserted,the thread will be wound or folded around the reel (7) in an upwardsdirection so that once the reel central body is covered with a firstcoat, a second coat is folded in a downwards direction. This process isrepeated successively to get a diameter slightly smaller than that of areel bottom disc, in a manner such that each coat presents a heightslightly smaller to that of the previous coat, as to obtain a mixedpattern bobbin, with approximately the lower two-thirds of the bobbinhaving a cylindrical shape and approximately the upper one-third of thebobbin having a truncoconical shape, resulting in folded material havingan improved stability.

With the new continuous, individual, conical or double conical foldingsystem, the process to obtain a bobbin, as shown in FIG. 9, is totallydifferent from the conventional process, shown in FIG. 8. In theconventional process of FIG. 8, the thread or welt is folded inaccordance with a bobbin simple pattern, with most of its length havinga cylindrical shape and a trunco-conical upper portion, while with thenew continuous, individual, conival or trunco-conical folding system thefolding pattern corresponds to a bobbin made up of multiple concentriccylinders and trunco-cones, forming assemblies called “subcycles” (45).Each of the subcycles (45) has a smaller given number of thread or weltcoats (44) relative to the conventional system, and each subcycle (45)has a height slightly lower than that of a previous subcycle. Theassembly having a given number of sub cycles is called a “repeated greatcycle” (46).

With this improvement, the modular machine for spinning and doublingwith individual transmission elements for spindles is provided with acontrol unit (29) comprising a microprocessor which enables the machineto program, on a display, the length required to be stored on each reel(7), the reel length, the height (h) (49) of the cone or trunco-cone,and by means of a display restricted to the user, the number ofsubcycles (m) and the number of thread or welt coats in each subcycle(n) in accordance with the features of the processed products.

The difference in height between a coat and next coat (Ca) (48) and thedifference in height between a subcycle and a next subcycle (Cb) (47),computed by means of the microprocessor algorithm, establishes thecorresponding parameters.

Also, the microprocessor (29) provides the machine with the ability toprogram different bobbin shapes, including single cone, double cone, andcylinder. All of these patterns are obtained through the same process ofsubcycles and coats as previously described.

With the improvement introduced with the new control unit (29), thespinning machine, doubling machine, textile spinning, spool rovingframe, spool doubling machine and similar machines, have the capacity toapply the above described programs, individually to each spindle of themachine.

In order to start the process, an operation cycle is programmed for eachspindle by means of the display (29) of the control unit ormicroprocessor by introducing the following data: twist degree, bobbinshape (simple cone, double cone or straight), length to be processed ineach spindle, conical (49) and the reel height (50).

Subsequently, the different threads (26) are inserted to form the finalthread or welt through the inlet rollers (18), then feed through thefeeding rollers (19) and pressure roller (21), through the thread guides(17) and the sliding piece (16), and then wound on the reels (7).

With the pressure arms up (20) and the spindles (5) stopped, the feedingrollers (18), the ring rail (15) and the thread guide (17) are startedby means of the feeding system start switch (51). Further, the motorsdriving the spindles are started in sequence by means of individualswitches.

The twist index is given by the control unit or microprocessor (29) tothe frequency variator in each motor based on turning speed of eachspindle provided by the encoder or motor pulse generator and by theturning speed of the feeding rollers, also provided by the pulsegenerator or encoder of the frequency variator of feeding rollersdriving motor.

Simultaneously, the operation cycle is started, winding or folding thethread or welt on the reel central body (53) with upwards movement andwhen reaching the maximum reel height by the action of the ring railsliding piece, the thread or welt starts folding next coat in downwardsdirection, in this case of smaller height since it is conditioned by theprogrammed dimension of high cone (48), and so on to configure acomplete subcycle (45) with n coats (44) which will start theconfiguration of a new subcycle, with the same number of coats than theprevious one, which in accordance with the low cone (47) dimension, willbe of smaller height than the previous one, and so on, to the point inwhich, as a consequence of the programmed length to be folded on eachreel, the reel will stop whereas the remaining spindles will continuethe process without being required to stop. Once the filled reel isreplaced with an empty reel, the individual starting switch (52) isturned on to initiate the reel operation, starting a new foldingprocess.

It is possible to introduce changes in shape, arrangement andconstitution in the assembly and its components, as long as thosealterations do not affect substantially the characteristics of theinvention as claimed below.

What is claimed is:
 1. A modular spinning and doubling machine, withindividual transmission elements for spindles and a continuous,individual, conical and double conical folding system, comprising: saidspindles, wherein said spindles have individual driving systems; whereinsaid driving systems having a pulley, and a flat transmission beltactuated by an alternate current asynchronous electric motor, fedthrough a frequency variator which is controlled by a control unit;wherein said driving systems configure said machine for processing thedesired twist degree on each individual spindle, allowing processingthreads of different twist degree at the same time on each of saidspindles; and wherein said folding system includes said control unit,said folding system configuring said machine for obtaining in saidmachine, on said each individual spindle, the same final bobbin formats,even when processing threads of different type and torsion degree, anddifferent bobbin filling time on each of said spindles, in a continuousway and without stopping the folding cycle.
 2. The machine according toclaim 1, wherein said control unit configures said machine to operate atdifferent parameters corresponding to the torsion degree of each thread,each thread being processed at each of said spindles, whereby saidfolding system processes threads of different torsion degree, width andspinning direction, in said machine at the same time on each of saidspindles, thus independently stopping each of said spindles when theprogrammed length of thread has filled a corresponding bobbin.
 3. Themachine according to claim 1, wherein said folding system is programmedaccording to desired bobbin height, conical and double conical format,and conical and programmed length of thread to fill said correspondingbobbins; wherein the filled bobbins have the same final formatregardless of whether said machine processes different thread products,or threads of different twist degree, width and spinning direction;wherein the filling of the bobbins does not stop except when the spindlehas been filled with the programmed length of thread, requiringreplacement of the thread; and wherein the bobbins are filled withoutany influence of the individual bobbin filling cycles, when the fillingof remaining bobbins begins.
 4. The machine according to claim 1,wherein the variables “m”, “n”, “Ca”. “Cb” and “h” according to theexpressions “Ca=h/m” and “Cb=h/(m*n) are fixed to the necessary valuesin order to guarantee a swinging operation for achieving an individualand independent folding cycle of the thread filled on each correspondingbobbin.
 5. The machine according to claim 1, wherein the spindles aresupported by a twin bearing system of the ball type, the upper bearingbeing packed with a synthetic rubber ring capable of absorbing theproduced radial vibrations, and the lower bearing being mounted on aswinging support capable of radial displacement, the distance betweenthe bearings being between approximately 150 and 350 mm.